Chaos with the free student ticket: problems at the start of school in Uckermark!

Chaos with the free student ticket: problems at the start of school in Uckermark!

The new school year has just begun and the cost-effective student ticket for the Uckermark region is already causing excitement. On August 28, 2023, the free student ticket was officially introduced, offering all students in the Uckermark district free access to the bus and train lines not only on the way to school, but also during their free time. But not all students were able to benefit from the start of school without problems.

The 4,600 students receiving the ticket and many others who are not yet entitled to a ticket should actually be able to use public transport without any problems. But according to reports, such as from svz.de, there were some hurdles in the first few days. The Lestin family's ticket was blocked during the summer holidays because new applications had to be submitted to the Uckermärkische Verkehrsgesellschaft. Despite submitting the application on time in August, the back-to-school ticket did not work as expected.

Problems launching tickets

When the students were taken to school on the first day, they received a note that pointed out the problem with the valid ticket from the following day. The Uckermark Education Office had to inform the affected families that processing times were long and applications from July were only being processed now. Janina Hartwig, the head of the Education Office, confirmed that schools were informed on May 20th of the need for informed new applications by July 15th, 2025 at the latest.

Martin Robeck, the headmaster of the Philipp Hackert School, and Nina Göde, headmaster of the Templin High School, confirmed that the class teachers passed on information to the students. “However, there were some exceptions,” admits Robeck. The Uckermark district had previously warned schools that submissions should be made in good time to ensure a timely start.

Details about the free student ticket

The student ticket, which is valid until July 31, 2026, allows students to travel not only to lessons and sports, but also to leisure activities such as music school, swimming lakes or climbing forests. No additional upgrades apply in connection with other tariff products such as the Deutschlandticket. Applications can only be submitted to the Uckermark district education office. It is important that students who live and school in the Uckermark can take advantage of this opportunity.

A new application is only required when entering certain school classes or when changing schools. This offers a certain level of security for the students. The chip cards that were distributed to schools on July 21, 2025 are also important: “The existing cards must be kept,” according to the information from uvg-online.com.

Despite the obstacles at the start of school, the continuation of the program is assured for the current school year. However, the future of applications remains uncertain as applications cannot be processed earlier before school starts. We first have to wait for cost negotiations with the transport companies.

Overall, it appears that the free student ticket has been extremely well received, but the implementation presented the Uckermark schools and the responsible authorities with some organizational challenges. A good hand at improving the processes for everyone involved would now be required.